Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter (18 page)

68. Phone call

“Who are you? Identify yourself.”

“My name doesn’t tell you anything, Mr. President, I doubt that you know about me. You've come to the White House after well-known events, which until this morning you knew nothing it. But I know your predecessor; he awarded me twice. Now I'm Number One. We have a lot to discuss, Mr. President.”

“We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

“And you are right. But we are not terrorists, Mr. President. In your understanding, we are not humans at all. Let's call this a negotiation between intelligent civilizations, currently in a state of war.”

“You and all your Satan geeks will burn in hell for those people you killed, I’m personally…”

“Mr. President, don’t waste your and my time, the time is expensive. We’ve all had a very hard day, let's not complicate it. I don’t have to feel threatened by hell, I survived two of your nuclear bombings, and I will survive others, no doubt. But fifteen thousand inhabitants of a small town in
New Hampshire
didn’t survive my response. I understand that a chemical attack doesn’t compare in strength to a nuclear strike, but try telling that to the victims’ relatives, to all who are now running in all directions from big cities in search of salvation.”

“You massacred fifteen thousand people; we will hang you for it!”

“In LA you killed more with a bomb. Do you think there were only vampires? Wrong. But now it does not matter. The following is important - for all your nuclear bombs or massive air strikes, we will respond with chemical attacks. You already know that I have a lot chemical weapons, and my men will use gas without hesitation. Now, when you need to save at any cost the management of the country - now chemical attacks can destroy it all and cause huge panic. Civilians will flee for their lives as animals flee from fire. All boundaries between states, all quarantine barriers, all checkpoints - everything will be broken, your defense will fail. And my vamps will follow them. My soldiers are everywhere, Mr. President; they are deeply rooted in your system, as metastases. And, if need be, I will have a lot more soldiers - you've seen how easily your men become my men. It's time to put aside nuclear bombs and sit down at the negotiating table. It is not yet too late.”

“And what do you want?”

“To begin, we offer a ceasefire. No nuclear strikes and no chemical attacks. We all need time to regroup.”

“Maybe. And what next? What do you want? What do you need?”

“What do I need? The same thing that everyone needs. I need resources, Mr. President, I need the economy, I need industry, trade, I need everything.

“I need all, that have U.S, China, England, France, Germany, Russia, Brazil, India and other countries. I need money and power. I know how it’s produced; I fought for money at a time when you were selling land in Tennessee. I have said many times that I fight for freedom, for democracy, for the human value, but I knew perfectly for what I killed people in other countries. I killed them for the sake of your interests, for men like you, men with power and money, so you can have more power and more money. And I'm perfectly provided these interests; you can look at my awards

“All my life I have worked for you. And three years ago, your predecessor sent me to take a crashed satellite from enemy territory. It was there I found something that changed me, that freed me from you and your government, that has made me stronger than your money. And now I am fighting for myself and my interests, for the men who follow me. It will be a struggle for freedom, as in 1775. You have ten minutes to discuss it with your generals, Mr. President.”

Chief hung up.

69. Ark 5

“Does anyone have water?”

In the morning, many children in the Ark had a variety of drinks, but now they’ve all been gone. Maybe some of the new passengers still had something to drink.

“There is no water, only cola.”

“Good.”

Miss Gloria took several deep gulps of the sweet liquid, which she usually didn’t drink. But now was not a time to care about health. She was very thirsty, her coffee thermos empty for many hours. After the cola, followed by a pair of cold sausages, a little of her strength returns.

“Well, what is it?”

“I don’t know, the glow is not so bright now.”

Indeed, the glow in the sky has virtually gone. Fifteen minutes ago the flash over the city was so bright that the sun was eclipsed. With great difficulty she managed to keep Ark under control and not crash into the car in front, whose driver braked sharply.

“Our men are coming!”

Two men hurried down from the hilltop, behind which stood their small convoy.

“What is it?”

“You saw what it was?”

“It's in the city?”

“There's… there's a mushroom cloud over the city, over the center, clearly seen from the hill. This is war!”

After these words panic began, and frightened people started screaming all at once, each offering something different.

“Stop screaming!” Miss Gloria appealed to them from her seat. “Stop screaming, get in your cars and drive on! Or do you want to wait for the fallout here? We are far away from the city, and won’t suffer. Don’t stand, don’t obstruct the passage to me, I have a bus full of children! Go!”

Her shout brought things to life, refugees quickly getting into their cars and a moment later the small convoy started to move.

Once they were nearly ambushed, and Ark sometimes ran around country roads, gradually shifting to the north. Miss Gloria gave the radio to the man with two children, who shot the vampire. Now they are being officially named that, they heard it on the radio. They also heard a warning about numerous ambushes on the roads, and that the military would organize mobile groups to fight them. And finally, they heard the most important thing - the exact coordinates of evacuation points, where refugees were gathering. The military were organizing small fortresses in several towns, and Arc was heading to one of them.

Ark wasn’t alone for long, and they met with other refugee groups, also directed to the evacuation point. Avoiding possible ambushes, they had to use old, broken roads. Several overloaded cars were broken and passengers had to be moved into Ark. But the new companions have maps, weapons and some food and water. Ark went to the rear of the column, until the nuclear explosion eclipsed the sun for a brief moment.

“Any news about this town ahead?”

“Nothing, the military didn’t say anything about this place, at least I haven’t heard. But there is a gas station; it’s listed on the map.”

“Give me the binoculars...”

The military and their vehicles were not visible, and they couldn’t see anyone on a single street, no cars or pedestrians. There were no fire or smoke pillars, no visible damage. And there was a gas station, the setting sun gleaming on polished columns.

“Well, is that decided?”

“We won’t go there, we’ll go around and through the farm and directly to the evacuation point, it’s already close. Now we should stay away from the cities,” the head car driver said. But his answer is not completely agreeable.

Concerning staying away from cities, Miss Gloria agreed, but there was another factor - gas. From travelling on bad roads she had less and less fuel, the arrow was in the red zone. Ark would not reach the military base without refueling and half the cars in the convoy too.

“We don’t know who is now in this town. And we don’t know what is at this gas station, the fuel may have leaked. It’s a great place for an ambush. You can’t go there!”

“And we will not reach the base without refueling!”

“Then stay here and we will go to the base, we’ll show them your location and they will send help.”

“All day they didn’t send help for us, where will you get help now? We need to go further until we are not covered with radioactive dust. We have to refuel!”

“If you wish so - go into the town. And we’ll go round!”

Miss Gloria carefully listened to the drivers’ dispute, but she didn’t interfere with it. It was certain that the lucky ones who had the fuel would go to a military base as soon as possible, they were not persuaded. She needed to understand what to do.

“You have powerful SUV and a lot of rifles; cover us until we’re refueled. And we will get food and water in the store at the station for you.”

“We have enough food, and we will go to the military. I don’t want to wait for darkness here. All who have the fuel – go with me!”

70. Ark 6

The column was divided. Three cars stayed with Ark, the others went to the base. Ahead was the small town and gas station, where there was still nobody in sight.

“Will we wait here for help?”

“I’m will not waiting here for another nuclear bomb. Let’s go to the town. Miss, are you coming with us?”

Naturally, she was going to go with them, she didn’t want to stay alone on an empty road. In addition, they were right about the radioactive dust. They needed to refuel and go further.

“So - one car refuels, while the rest take cover. Have the guns ready, but be careful if you want to shoot, there will be gas everywhere. Come on.”

They quickly covered the distance to the town and drove to the gas station.

“There is no one in the office, and the power isn’t on.”

“There's a backup generator, start it and the pumps will work. Check the store!”

Miss Gloria watched as two men and a woman, all with guns, carefully entered the store through the broken glass door.

“Most things have been taken away, but a small amount is left. Water too.”

“The pumps are working!”

The first car went to refuel, while Miss Gloria waited her turn – Ark would fill the last. In the meantime, she examined the town, where nothing had changed with their arrival. And yet, it was clear something had happened here - broken windows, empty cars, and a few shells on the pavement.

“What do you think happened here?” she asked Rich, the guy with the carbine.

“I think the entire population just left, earlier in the day when the evacuation was announced. They must have thrown essentials in cars and driven off to the north.”

Ark began fueling

“Hey, do you hear that?”

“What, where?”

There it was again – the sound of a motor. Somewhere near, coming from the other side of town.

“It's soldiers?”

“I don’t think so, judging by the sound. It’s just a normal car, and only one.”

“Miss Gloria, there's a man!”

“Where, can you show me?”

A boy from the second seat pointed to some windows in the house opposite, but she saw nothing.

“There, again, in the window!”

“Clear. Reach, throw the hose, let's go!”

“There's another, and another!”

The drivers were not going to wait for her, and were already headed to the main street. Now Miss Gloria saw silhouettes in the gathering darkness.

“He's on the roof!”

A machine gun chopped into the first car’s glass, and it crashed into a big red trash can. Molotov cocktails ignited the car, with a few more bottles falling on the roadway. A firewall rose, and the two surviving cars froze in front of it.

“Don’t stop, it's an ambush!”

But the cars didn’t move on, their passengers trying to avoid bullets and fire bombs. Miss Gloria saw a pickup beyond the fire wall, a man with a machine gun standing in the back. She wondered why he didn’t shoot, why nobody was shooting at the Ark, and suddenly realizes – the vampires wanted to take them alive; there had been people on the radio talking about prisoners. There were a few more vampires sneaking along the wall, she could see them in the rearview mirror.

“Rich, shoot the man in the pickup!”

Ark broke forward, overcoming the short distance to the firewall. A man in a pickup lifted his gun, but Rich was ahead of the enemy, knocking him down. Ark throws the pickup away, crashing his driver. Miss Gloria dropped back to avoid a burning car, and then moved forward again. Behind them were a fierce firefight, and several bullets hit the side of the bus. Someone yelled.

“On the left roof!”

Two vampires jumped onto Ark’s roof, one of them falling on the hood
,
under the last bullet in a Rich carbine. There were several shots through the hole in the roof; bullets hit Rich’s neck and he fell. Miss Gloria turned the bus from side to side in an attempt to throw a vampire away, but he managed to stick and then jumped onto the hood.

Miss Gloria’s taser pierced the enemy’s leg, so his hand jerked and the bullet hit her in the shoulder, rather than striking in the head. Hitting the brakes, the vampire was cast onto the road ahead. Ark swayed slightly, crushing his body.

Her blood was gushing; one of the passengers tried to hold it with a cloth, and Miss Gloria drove Ark forward. Behind them fire covered the small town and a single car pursued the bus. There were short bursts of fire and single shots, bullets hitting the boards. The left rear tire exploded with a bang, but, by some miracle, she managed to keep the bus from crashing. Her bleeding became fiercer, she began seeing double; and, when she briefly saw a white flash of light ahead, it seemed that it was just a hallucination. A second later, a pursuing car shattered in a fiery whirlwind, torn to pieces by an antitank missile. A helicopter spotlight illuminated Ark and she heard something shouted over a megaphone, but couldn’t understand what was being said.

“How many people are there?”

“About twenty children, a few adults. Two killed, five wounded, one seriously.”

“Look at them carefully; some of them may be infected. Handcuffed the wounded.”

“Roger.”

A second helicopter landed to take passengers from the crashed bus, a pair of Air Cobras covering them. Soldiers carefully pulled out the wounded female driver and laid her on a stretcher; a girl medic gave her anesthetic injections, IV sets, and then bound her hands with light but durable plastic tape handcuffs.

“Soldier, why have you done that?”

“It’s an order, miss. In the last group we saved, there was one infected, who attacked the others in the truck. Now we have to be very careful with the wounded.”

“The children are alive?”

“Yes, don’t worry. Three were hit by broken glass, that's all. We’ll send them to the base.”

Miss Gloria again started seeing double as she plunged into a drug haze. She was vaguely aware as soldiers raised the stretcher and carried it to the helicopter. Behind was left her broken bus, Ark had finished his last journey.